Trivia Alert! What were the codename of the 5 D-Day beaches?

6/6/2011 | US Navy Vet

[US Navy Vet]

Trivia Alert! What were the codename of the 5 D-Day beaches? Extra Credit What country landed on what beach?

[tubebender]

Well be thankful I didn’t get her pregnant...

[tubebender]

And where did Overlord fit into this thread?

[al baby]

I was going to say that but since my suspension and comment review I have been trying to be a good freeper

[PAR35]

Extra Extra Credit: Why was Omaha SO bloody?

On the other side of the coin - why were casualties at Utah so light?

[PAR35]

Pointe de Hoc

Ponte du Hoc.

[PAR35]

And now I misspelled it as well.

Pointe du Hoc. Since it is a point, not a bridge.

[Sacajaweau]

Kirk is Canadian, too. Craziness ran with that crowd??

[LS]

You left one out:

Bikini was reserved for the French.

[sometime lurker]

The Germans had reinforced the area not too long before the invasion. Those who came ashore at Omaha faced some of the heaviest fortifications, and the preliminary bombing had not been effective.

[PA Engineer]

Uh — darn old age...

Same thing happened to me when I saw the title to the thread. I finally opened it to find out. How the heck did Utah throw a mental block?

[Stonewall Jackson]

Another bit of WW2 Trivia: What are the names of the capital warships (battleships, carriers, and cruisers) lost by the US Navy in the war?

Battleships
Arizona - Pearl Harbor, HI - aerial - Dec 7, 1941
Oklahoma - Pearl Harbor, HI - aerial - Dec 7, 1941

Fleet Carriers
Lexington - Coral Sea - aerial - May 8, 1942
Yorktown - Midway Island - aerial/submarine - June 7, 1942
Wasp - San Cristobal Island - submarine - Sept 15, 1942
Hornet - Santa Cruz Island - aerial/surface - Oct 27, 1942

Light Carrier
Princeton - Leyte Gulf - aerial - Oct 24, 1944

Escort Carriers
Liscome Bay - Makin Island - submarine - Nov 23, 1943
Block Island - Canary Islands - submarine - May 29, 1944
Gambier Bay - Samar Island - surface - Oct 25, 1944
St. Lo - Samar Island - kamikaze - Oct 25, 1944
Ommaney Bay - Sulu Sea - kamikaze - Jan 4, 1945
Bismarck Sea - Iwo Jima - kamikaze - Feb 21, 1945

Heavy Cruisers
Houston - Sunda Strait - surface - Mar 1, 1942
Quincy - Savo Island - surface - Aug 9, 1942
Vincinnes - Savo Island - surface - Aug 9, 1942
Astoria - Savo Island - surface - Aug 9, 1942
Northampton - Tassafaronga - surface - Nov 30, 1942
Chicago - Rennell Island - aerial - Jan 30, 1943
Indianapolis - Philippine Sea - submarine - July 30, 1945

Light Cruisers
Juneau - Guadalcanal - surface/submarine - Nov 13, 1942
Atlanta - Guadalcanal - surface/friendly fire - Nov 13, 1942
Helena - Kula Gulf - surface - July 6, 1943

[GreenLanternCorps]

There was an extra German division that moved into the defenses in the Omaha sector just before the attack. SHAEF intelligence completely missed it. It was a very rude surprise for the American troops landing at Omaha.

[Charles Martel]

Extra Extra Credit:

Why was Omaha SO bloody?

Among other factors, Allied bombardment had not touched the German artillery position that was dropping most of the heavy shells on Omaha Beach; Maisy Battery.

[Bi-ped Carbon Unit]

Overlord was the name of the whole operation; per Churchill.

[ExcursionGuy84]

Utah Beach was relatively flat as a carpenter's table saw.
Omaha had steep-angled bluffs with several draws [upward-angled valley's] between Pointe du Hoc and Sainte Honorine des Pertes. The Nazi soliders besically could shoot-downwards at the American soldiers like the proverbial "fish-in-a-barrel".

The 352nd German Division at Omaha was also battle-hardened and -experienced troops from the Russian war-front.

Utah Beach on the other hand had poorly-motivated defenders, fewer gun emplacements/ casements, more of the swimming Sherman tanks landed on the beach and...

...most importantly of all...

....the 1st and subsequently-following waves of troops, vehicles and supporting-columns landed further-away from their intended objective. Thus, the Germans couldn't resist like they could at Omaha beach.

[Flag_This]

"Among other factors, Allied bombardment had not touched the German artillery position that was dropping most of the heavy shells on Omaha Beach; Maisy Battery."

My understanding is that the guys on Utah Beach had a fairly easy time (relative to Omaha). In your opinion, if the landings at Omaha had been thrown back, do you think the allies still could have made a go of it with successful landings at Utah, Sword, Juno and Gold?

[Sea Parrot]

Utah is the 5th.

[Sea Parrot]

I once read that a single German machinegun likely inflicted majority of US casualities on Omaha beach.

The German gunner survived and said that incident haunts him to this day.

[Charles Martel]

Yes, I think that the beachhead would've been sufficient even without Omaha being open, because the amount of armor put ashore initially would not have changed much. A slower pace, of course, might've allowed a Panzer division to move against the coast - but the task of blocking those routes was in the hands of paratroopers, for the most part. So again, not much change.

Anything that would have delayed events from the known timetable is bound to introduce new variables, but I think the key to dealing with that sort of "what if" is to continue pushing, even if one of the beaches had been effectively closed by the enemy.

I spent a week there last autumn, driving around. Many of the roads look just like they're pictured in the movies: centuries-old ruts about the width of an oxcart, with hedgerows on either side. It's truly a place of surreal beauty, filled with grazing cattle and apple orchards. It's difficult to believe that it ever saw such suffering and death.

The site of the American Cemetery and Memorial at Colleville-sur-Mer may well be the most beautiful piece of coastline I have ever seen.

[Flag_This]

"centuries-old ruts about the width of an oxcart, with hedgerows on either side."

That's something that really amazes me - the fight in the hedgerows. I've always wondered why the allies were so surprised that those massive things could become veritable fortresses. I would've figured the French Resistance (or somebody) would have foreseen the possibility.

I know hindsight is 20/20, but still...